Why Smart People Make Dumb Decisions!

A variety of internet sources suggest the average human being makes approximately 35,000 decisions per day. Wow!!!! That’s a lot of decisions! The great news is all of these decisions are not major. In fact, we consistently make thousands of micro-decisions without even thinking about them. In the last hour, how many times did you:

a)   Turn your head

b)  Move your hands

c)   Move your feet

d)  Check your phone

e)   Decide not to check your phone

f)    Check social media

g)   Scratch your head

h)  Engage a colleague

i)    Perpetuate a Thought

j)    Stop a Thought

We make decisions by the second and if we are not careful, the same loose habits that drive our micro-decisions will also drive the majors. If we don’t exercise deliberation and intentional consciousness, the “auto pilot” in us will control our entire decision making framework and we can find ourselves looking back over our lives only to realize we somehow drifted off course.

Ask Bernie Madoff, the former NASDAQ Chairman and founder of the Wall Street investment firm Madoff Investment Securities, who was arrested in December 2008. He eventually pled guilty to 11 Federal crimes and admitted to operating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Some sources say the fraud was estimated to be as much as $65 Billion in liabilities and almost 5,000 of his clients were impacted. Bernie was eventually sentenced to 150 years in prison with restitution of $170 Billion. You have to wonder, at what point in the decision making process did someone of such high stature decide he was going to “keep moving the boundary line.” What on earth inspired him to assume he would never get caught?

While there are a variety of his character defects to examine i.e. greed, pride, arrogance, etc., this was a presumptively smart man who at some point made a dumb micro-decision. And, because that micro-decision did not result in any negative consequences, he made another…and another…and another. Because he never got caught, it’s safe to assume he continued to press the boundaries. Sadly, those micro-decisions eventually led to a series of major decisions that cost him not only his freedom but the freedom of others around him along with the lost of his son Mark who committed suicide by hanging a couple of years after his sentencing.

The moral of the story here is a high IQ does not always equate to wise decision-making. The next time you are in position to make a decision, be sure to filter it through the following questions:

1)  Is this considered to be a major or minor decision?

2)  What are the potential consequences of this decision?

3)  If considered major, am I equipped to make this decision alone?

4)  If not, who and what resources should I invite on the journey of my decision-making process?

5)  Are the people I have chosen to invite equipped enough to help me make a well-informed decision?

6)  Do those I have chosen to invite have the same values and character attributes I carry when making decisions?

7)  What’s my timeline for making a final decision?

Maybe you can think of additional questions to ponder before making a major decision. If so, go for it! In all you do, be conscious of the fact that even the smartest people in the world are capable of making dumb decisions. Be wise. Think and examine major decisions before you act.